The Moral Dimension of Japanese Aesthetics

>Japanese aesthetics was first introduced to the non‐Japanese audience around the turn of the twentieth century through now classic works, such as Bushidō (1899), The Ideals of the East (1904), and The Book of Tea (1907), all written in English and published in the United States.1 Since then, Japanese aesthetic concepts, such as wabi, sabi, yūgen, iki, and mono no aware, have become better known, some even popularized today.2 Some traditional Japanese art media, such as flower arrangement, Noh theater, haiku, martial arts, and, perhaps most prominently, tea ceremony, are now widely studied and sometimes practiced outside of Japan. The authors of all these studies generally characterize Japanese aesthetics by focusing on aesthetic concepts and phenomena that are “unique to” Japan and “different from” non‐Japanese aesthetic traditions, the Western aesthetic tradition in particular. Meanwhile, recent scholarship in Japanese studies examines the historical and political context during the rapid process of Westernization (late nineteenth century through early twentieth century) that prompted Japanese intellectuals at the time to rediscover and reaffirm the character, and sometimes superiority, of their own cultural tradition and values, particularly aesthetics. Some argue that, whether consciously or not, this promotion of cultural nationalism paved the way for the political ultra‐nationalism that was the ideological underpinning of colonialism.3 Despite recent efforts to introduce, popularize, or contextualize Japanese aesthetics, uncharted territories remain. In this paper I explore one such area: the moral dimension of Japanese aesthetics. I characterize the long‐held Japanese aesthetic tradition to be morally based by promoting respect, care, and consideration for others, both humans and nonhumans. Although both moral and aesthetic dimensions of Japanese culture have, independently, received considerable attention by scholars of Japanese aesthetics, culture, and society, the relationship between the two has yet to be articulated. One reason may be that there is no specific term in either Japanese or English to capture its content. Furthermore, although this moral dimension of aesthetic life is specifically incorporated in some arts, such as the tea ceremony and haiku, it is deeply entrenched in people's daily, mundane activities and thoroughly integrated with everyday life, rendering it rather invisible. Similarly, contemporary discourse on morality has not given much consideration to this aesthetic manifestation of moral values, despite the emergence of feminist ethics, ethics of care, and virtue ethics. Although they emphasize humility, care, and considerateness, discourses on feminist ethics primarily address actions or persons, not the aesthetic qualities of the works they produce. Japanese aesthetics suggests several ways for cultivating moral sensibilities. In what follows, I focus on two principles of design: (1) respecting the innate characteristics of objects and (2) honoring and responding to human needs. Exploring them is important not only to illuminate this heretofore neglected aspect of Japanese aesthetics, but also to call attention to the crucial role aesthetics does and can play in promoting a good life and society, whatever the particular historical or cultural tradition and artistic heritage may be. The Japanese aesthetic tradition is noted for its sensitivity to, respect for, and appreciation of the quintessential character of an object. This attitude gives rise to a guiding principle of design that articulates the essence of an object, material, or subject matter, regardless of whether it is considered artistic.4 In this section, I show how this attitude is embodied in Japanese garden design, flower arrangement, haiku composition, and painting, as well as cooking and packaging. The earliest expression of such a guiding principle of design can be found in the oldest extant writing on garden design, Sakuteiki[Book on Garden Making], written by an eleventh‐century aristocrat. The author states that the art of garden making consists of creating the scenic effect of a landscape by observing one principle of design: “obeying (or following) the request” of an object (kowan ni shitagau). Referring specifically to rocks here, this principle suggests that the arrangement of rocks be dictated by their innate characteristics. For example, the gardener “should first install one main stone, and then place other stones, in necessary numbers, in such a way as to satisfy the request… of the main stone.”5 In later centuries, the same design strategy extended to the placement and maintenance of plant materials. Instead of allowing unmitigated growth, inevitable death, or destruction by natural processes, Japanese gardeners meticulously shape and maintain trees and shrubs by extensive manipulation.6 Unlike topiary in European formal gardens, however, where shapes are imposed on the plant materials regardless of their own characteristics, a tree or a shrub in a Japanese garden is shaped according to its individual form. A fifteenth‐century manual, for example, instructs the gardener to “observe the natural growth pattern of the tree, and then prune it to bring out its inherent scenic qualities.” The gardener should express the essential features of a particular material through elimination of inessential and irrelevant parts.7 The whole art making here requires the artist to work closely with, rather than in spite of or irrespective of, the material's natural endowments. Similar principles also govern the art of flower arrangement (ikebana), which was elevated to an artistic status during the sixteenth century. Although this art form begins, paradoxically, by cutting off a living flower or branch, thereby initiating its death, its primary aim is to “let flower live,” the literal translation of ikebana, or to “let flower express itself” (ikasu).8 This can be achieved by further cutting of branches, leaves, and blossoms so that only the essential parts defining the particular plant can be clearly delineated. One contemporary commentator summarizes that “the ultimate aim of floral art is to represent nature in its inmost essence.”9 The same design principle applies to the art of representation, such as haiku, a 5‐7‐5 syllable verse form, established in the seventeenth century by Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694). According to Bashō, the raison d'etre of poetry is to capture the essence of nature by entering into and identifying oneself with it, summarized in his well‐known saying: “Of the pine‐tree learn from the pine‐tree. Of the bamboo learn from the bamboo.”10 For this, he calls for “the slenderness of mind,” as one has to overcome one's personal feelings and concerns in order to grasp and appreciate the qualities of the objects for what they are. Sometimes described as “impersonality,” the ideal of haiku making should be object centered, rather than subject governed.11 When successful, the poet's effort will “‘grow into’ (naru) a verse,” rather than “‘doing’ (suru) a verse.”12 Bashō's contemporary, Tosa Mitsukuni (1617–1691), developed a similar theory regarding the art of painting. For him, mimesis is the main purpose of a painting, but it is “the spirit of the object” that the painter must grasp and present.13 Toward this end, the painter can and should omit certain elements, making the overall effect “incomplete” and “suggestive,” facilitating more the of the essential characteristics of the subject matter, such as as found in both and his according to are which with the poetry of Tosa of the by Bashō and that with bamboo is with bamboo is also the spirit of bamboo is embodied in the the of bamboo will This is the essence of This principle for respecting a natural object also applies to objects of everyday to paper to to Japanese are in respect for the and of to the of This a respect for material and and respect for the and can be to these Japanese is well for its aesthetic and of materials. materials are not only for the but also for their innate characteristics. The design is by the qualities of the material For example, Japanese paper to and to into a by A bamboo can be into that are both and which can then be or it can be into in order to of its natural and can be for of their and Similarly, some such as a to a can be or of Japanese that these characteristics of materials with of paper with paper bamboo for and bamboo for and to are not only and they also express an attitude of respect and the The aesthetics in Japanese which all the is also well In to of such as arrangement and of an important focus of Japanese is the of In of is and so that the of its inherent qualities can be For example, may be or whole with a through the of the in order to a shape of its in the and such as leaves, and are so that their individual characteristics are and In a Japanese of is and to its and are then all in a but in a way such that can be in the of out as a of The of such is that and its own characteristics, also as a to the others, and the the with its own as it the Japanese as a of this Japanese aesthetic and a noted its as everyday from according to and their inherent The aim of and arrangement in the is to and bring to In the of Japanese is more and more This attitude of respect the innate characteristics of objects and materials is not to the Japanese aesthetic by this Japanese aesthetic the and that during the nineteenth century in also the of to In for in the of the and that “the has not his he even so the materials with which he is as to to bring out their and to and as as he their The and to respecting and with “the essence of Referring to for example, the materials are with, and to it for what it can This according to one has to contemporary principles such as to and to bring out the of that Some contemporary also this attitude their materials. artist works with and is described as in efforts to with materials on and emphasize the inherent and of as well as the of their one essential of objects a particular and with natural primarily where the process will and to what they have to and to maintain “the essence of its in to traditional Japanese arts, or contemporary art this principle of artistic has an important moral for moral life and respecting the the to and appreciate on their own can to this it, of of a good or a moral is that that does not his or on such a is to the of other or even of the tree or the and and The sensitivity and respect for the essential characteristics, the attitude design and this moral for the to own and on the Japanese art and design their way of life in have deeply by to Japan in century to early century by and of and is summarized by as on and with the of oneself is on and oneself in the of is the is oneself is oneself is by all This of is by and of and Unlike was the of a is to the or of the other In this with the of object and and rendering of and “the of of their or as other more or objects and are to and appreciate a of not that and the attitude the object, material, or subject inherent in Japanese and by the of is not only an aesthetic but also a moral virtue that suggests that the principle of to by the and and contemporary its from this Japanese design and its in Despite on Japanese one commentator on the and from the to in Japanese work a and that European design contemporary to his work is as Furthermore, it is that, in developed of with his Japanese This attitude materials also has particularly as to an to attitude nature by to of such as and them to Since the aesthetic of an object is a for its with are with cultivating a aesthetic of The to and for aesthetic and appreciate object and material for its own can to this is a further in natural object on its own to promoting design, work on the same principle of to and with the materials. 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